power cables

[mobily]

Hey all,

Is it really worth swapping the power cable for components like mags suggest? I will most likely have a £500 setup when I've finished and new power cables for everything would set me back a fair bit.

Are these sort of upgraded more for expensive kit than budget kit?

Cheers

[Londondecca]

Try some if you can get some on loan, if not there are more things you can do which would make a bigger difference

[Mark F]

Adding a Russ Andrews Classic Power Cable (approx £70) to my mid-price CD player has been the best value upgrade I've ever made. The effect it would have for you will very much depend on the "quality" of your mains supply. Russ Andrews offers a money back guarantee so you can soon send it back if you can't hear the difference.

[Paul Williams]

I've usually ended up rejecting all the 'bespoke' mains cables I've tried as all were in some way detrimental to the sound or had no effect. I do however, as standard, now use screened mains cables which give the best benefit for cost (screen attached to the earth pin at the plug end only). Loads of these being made & sold on eBay for about £15 a go. Or buy some screened mains cable yourself and do you own. Again basic steel braid screened from eBay (looks nice with the clear jacket) or the more upmarket Copper screened stuff from;

www.the-missing-link.net

(£6/mtr) is better and easier to work.

Paul

[harv]

Some bits of hifi benefit... some sound worse. My rega planet sounded much better, the tag amps i had benefited too, but the krell I have now didn't... in fact it sounded worse. So it one of those things you have to try... apart from the usual supects Lat, kimber, audusa...etc do have a look at 'the missing link' they seem quite reasonable too http://www.the-missing-link.net/prod02.htm I was happy with the cable I got from them for the isotek. They have trial cables so you can try before you buy as do russ andrews (kimber) I used the yello cables which were £30 can be a cheap tweak if they make a difference

[CJROSS]

Mobily you may wish to read these threads concerning power cables & taking your eyes out any listening “test” between them. :

Blind test of cheap/pricey Power Cables
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=92

And remember these tests are in systems costing 10s to 100s times more expensive than yours. note how the £2.49 kettle lead did in the second test.

[harv]

CJ does that mean you wouldn't even try them in mobily case ? with a money back offer of course. Also with the blind testing.. surely turning on and off equipment has some effect on performance?

As for the blind testing its very hard... having tried to spot the difference between Valhalla, elorado and a kettle lead. But I've always noticed more changes after a period of time living with it ie I'll be listening to something and notice something I've never heard before...or is that the mind.

[Paul Williams]

So there you go;

Yes or no, perhaps, maybe, definitely yes, definitely no.

As for me, I no longer bother, except for the screened cables, but that's a whole other debate and more to do with your environment. My system had problems, but got much better recently when a neighbour several doors away completed some intensive DIY, with heavy use of power tools - then again that could just be coincidence!

Paul

[CJROSS]

Originally Posted by harv

CJ does that mean you wouldn't even try them in mobily case ? with a money back offer of course. Also with the blind testing.. surely turning on and off equipment has some effect on performance?

As for the blind testing its very hard... having tried to spot the difference between Valhalla, elorado and a kettle lead. But I've always noticed more changes after a period of time living with it ie I'll be listening to something and notice something I've never heard before...or is that the mind.

Nope Harv, Mobily is perfectly free to do as he wishes after he has collated all the information on the net from users, all Im doing is giving him my experience with cables that involve blind testing, just as you are with sighted listening. No difference apart from eventul outcomes.

As for turning on/off well Ive seen plenty of comment on the net about how power cables instantly change the sound when people know what they are listening to. Take that pre-knowledge away and you have the results in the links I posted above, even people who heard differences before are hard pressed to pick out a £2.49 kettle lead.

[harv]

I read the links with interest... thanks

What I meant by turning the equipment on and off was... I always felt that it never sounded the same when my amps had been turned off then on... it always took a while for them to sound the same as before.

The tests between the nordorst cables and ordinary was done blind. I did prefer one and it wasn't the valhalla

[CJROSS]

Originally Posted by harv

What I meant by turning the equipment on and off was... I always felt that it never sounded the same when my amps had been turned off then on... it always took a while for them to sound the same as before.

Yep and what I meant was that Harv, that anyone doing a sighted comparison (usually finding huge differences) between cables does not suffer this problem. That chages when you remove their pre-bias. Ie their knowledge of what they are listening to.

[harv]

ok I understand now it does make a difference,

how you getting on with your italian beauties ?

[CJROSS]

Originally Posted by harv

ok I understand now it does make a difference,

how you getting on with your italian beauties ?

Not sure if your misreading my comments Harv, Im saying that if on/off effected hifi units in unsighted listening tests ie making the difference dissappear, then it would follow that the same thing happens when people hear differences in sighted listening. Ie I would discount there being any effect at all from the on/off state.

All we can trust is our ears. A basic tenet, but one that you’d imagine was more closely followed in high end hifi use, where it isn’t.

The Diaps ? Ive ran out of Pledge & Dusters twice this week and its only Thurs.

[harv]

Never thought I'd hear about speakers that required make up,

[Londondecca]

Why should it only be cables which are blind tested. Surely amps CDP etc all arrive with some kind of preconceived ideas.

In terms of trying cables, most of the advocates will claim the difference is not huge. To my mind the acoustics of a room and the speakers interactions are significantly more important. Move the speakers a few feet and the sound will alter in a noticeable way.

If you get some (loaned) power cable and it improves the sound quality, I would not worry about scientific validations unless you have followed that route for all the remaining equipment